V-hire terminal needs board, council approval: Labella

Labra says use of Kamagayan lot is ‘experiment,’ to last for only three months

CEBU City Acting Mayor Edgardo Labella said that any operation of a terminal within the city needs an approval from the City Government’s terminal accreditation board.

Labella issued the statement after learning that the City-owned property, where the CitiCenter Commercial Complex in Barangay Kamagayan used to stand, is now being used as a terminal by the south-bound vans-forhire (V-hires).

“It needs a technical recommendation from the technical accreditation committee, which was created by virtue of an ordinance,” Labella said yesterday.

He also said that the terminal operations require a council resolution covering it, although such may no longer be needed if the operation of the terminal is an experiment.

Around 200 V-hires coming from and going to the southern part of Cebu have been transferred from SM Seaside City to Kamagayan on Sept. 19. The move was reportedly requested by V-hire drivers and was approved by Mayor Tomas Osmeña.

Experiment

Caretaker Douglas Labra said that the terminal is only an experiment to see if the downtown area can be a possible site of a permanent terminal. The experiment will last for three months.

Labella said yesterday that he is wary if the new V-hire terminal will cause traffic congestion in the area.

Councilor Dave Tumulak, who is the chairperson of the City Council’s committee on traffic and public order and safety, said he will check the operations of the terminal.

This is already the fourth time that southbound V-hires have been transferred.

They temporarily staed at the vacant area near the Taboan Public Market after the One Citilink Terminal was ordered closed by former mayor Michael Rama in July last year due to an alleged tax delinquency and for allegedly operating with an expired business permit.

The V-hires were eventually moved to the area where the Compaña Maritima stands before it was transferrd to a vacant lot near the SM Seaside.

Labella said he is no longer sure if the plan to build a socialized housing project at the CitiCenter property would still push through considering the change of administration, and now the use of the area as a V-hire terminal.

It was Rama who planned to build a housing project in Kamagayan that could benefit at least 1,000 beneficiaries City Hall workers.